Man on Sex Offenders’ Register is spared from jail after he failed to notify police of travel plans

Chesterfield magistrates' court.

Jon Cooper

Published:14:33Saturday 15 December 2018

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A man who is subject to the Sex Offenders’ Register has narrowly escaped being sent to prison after he failed to comply with notification requirements.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on December 11 how Stewart Milnes, 45, of Stonelow Road, Dronfield, failed to notify police of a planned holiday to Lanzarote, that he had been issued with a passport and that he had been at an address with children.

Prosecuting solicitor Becky Allsop said: “There are no previous convictions but there is a caution from August, 2017, in relation to the making and possession of indecent images and that triggered registration requirements for two years.

“And as a result Milnes was regularly spoken to by officers and he was aware of the requirement to notify police of any address where there would be children, or if he was travelling or applying for a passport.”

Mrs Allsop added that police were notified by the Border Force that Milnes had returned to the UK on November 1 at Liverpool Airport.

The court heard there was no evidence Milnes had notified police that he had been registered with a passport or that he had planned to travel abroad.

Mrs Allsop said that Milnes later told police in a voluntary interview that he had also gone on holiday with his partner of the time and her children to Lanzarote.

He also told police that he had also stayed at this partner’s address three or four times while the children had been present.

Milnes pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to comply with notification requirements by failing to register foreign travel plans, that he had been issued with a passport and that he had been staying at an address with children between September and November.

Defence solicitor Annette Thomas said the original matter which had led to Milnes being made subject to the Sex Offenders’ Register had been deemed to be low-level and had been dealt with by way of only a caution.

Mrs Thomas added that Milnes had originally taken a picture off Twitter and he had shown it to a partner and she had handed over a mobile phone with details to police.

She said: “He has now had to deal with the consequences and face the possibility of receiving a custodial sentence in an environment that will not be pleasant.”